The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

BOOK REVIEW: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Release Date: February 5th, 2019

Genre: Mystery / Thriller / Fiction

Published by Celadon Books

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ My Goodreads Rating 

BOOK BLURB:

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him...


MY THOUGHTS:
I really didn't expect to like The Silent Patient as much as I did. When I saw the genre listed as "Psychological Thriller", I was like, alright, here we go again... Much to my surprise, I actually got really into this story, and wanted to know why this famous painter shot her husband 5 times and never spoke again! ⁠Would Theo, the criminal psychotherapist be able to solve this mystery?
 ⁠🤫
I was on the edge of my seat for most of the time, had a few of my own suspicions, and even texted one of my #somabookclub buddies when I was at the 78% mark, with one of my wild theories, and her response was: "my lips are sealed", which made me want to text her back with a few words that I'm not too proud of (sorry Lesia )... in the end, I did not see the final twist coming, and to that, I can only say, BRAVO!!!⁠
👏🏼

This book is part of the #SOMAbookclub  2020 picks and I can't wait to hear what everyone thinks about this one!!!

“We are made up of different parts, some good, some bad, and a healthy mind can tolerate this ambivalence and juggle both good and bad at the same time. Mental illness is precisely about a lack of this kind of integration - we end up losing contact with the unacceptable parts of ourselves.”